The secretary of Spalding Royal Naval Association and his wife were honoured to be invited to the preview event of the £15million New Remembrance Centre at the National Memorial Arboretum in Stafforshire.
In Heroes’ Square, Terry and Shirley Day saw for the first time a memorial paving stone dedicated to Terry’s dad, Reg Day, who was a merchant naval seaman.
Reg served during The Battle of the Atlantic in World War Two. He was on board SS Aeneas, returning from the Far East when it was singled out for aerial attack by the Luftwaffe. The ship was sunk with the loss of 19 lives.
Three months later whilst serving on board SS Eurymedon, his ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk two days later, with the loss of 28 lives.
Due to his injuries, Reg was discharged from Merchant Naval Service and was unable to go to sea again. This was devastating to him as he had been going to sea for eight years, since he was 16.
Terry, who also works for Spalding Water Taxi, says to be invited to the preview was a great honour, to see how such a fantastic transformation had been made to the National Memorial Arboretum as a whole.
He said: I would definitely recommend a visit by all ages and receive a rewarding, uplifting experience with further visits.”
Entry to the Arboretum grounds are free and open 9am to 5pm (dusk in winter) every day except Christmas Day
